EVEN A TOUGH GUY
by Kay-nu
Summary: Jim solves a crime from his hospital bed. An alternate universe as Blair is a forensic anthropologist and Jim's partner.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER—this story is unpaid fan fiction.

EVEN TOUGH GUYS

Chapter One

Detective James Ellison's bloodshot eyes were watering. He grabbed a handkerchief out of his pocket. Jim sneezed with enough force that Captain Simon Banks turned from where he was standing talking to Reverend Kirk Mallory. An irritated look crossed Simon's ebony face.

"Gees, Jim." Blair Sandburg eyed his partner worriedly. "You really should go home."

Wiping his sore runny nose Jim shot an irritated and exasperated look at Blair. Blair seemed immune to his partner's sharp look. Instead Blair's dark blue eyes held concern as he studied Jim's sweaty face and bloodshot eyes. "Simon will understand if you have to go home. You're no good to anyone if you're sick. You should be home in bed. I can cook up some herbal remedies that will knock that cold right out of your system."

"Hold it, Darwin." Jim shoved his used handkerchief back into his pocket. His whole body ached. Truthfully nothing sounded as good as spending the day asleep in his warm bed. He exhaled a breath watching the while cloud that formed from his spent breath.

Overhead the sky was grey adding to the sadden atmosphere that hung over the crime scene. Jim favored Blair with a quick look. "The last time you cooked up some herbal remedy my taste buds were offline for three days." He shook his head and then regretted the action. The movement caused everything to develop strange streaks of light.

Jim cleared his scratchy throat. "I have a job to do." Jim's eyes were on Reverend Mallory. The minister was standing near the smoldering remains of his church. A number of little things were raising suspicion in Jim's mind. Jim's tired eyes swept over Reverend Mallory's expensive suit. A frown tugged at Jim's dry cracked lips. He knew an expensive haircut when he saw it. Reverend Mallory looked more like the type of successful businessman that traveled in his father's circles than a preacher. Jim caught snatches of the Reverend's words. It was enough for Jim to recognize the speech patterns of a well educated snob.

Blair grabbed Jim's arm. "There are other detectives, Jim," he whispered harshly. "You don't have to save the world."

Jim frowned. His hearing was cutting in and out. "Who would gain the most from burning the church down?" Jim continued to stare at Reverend Mallory as he spoke softly to Blair. Patiently Jim removed Blair's hand from his arm.

"It wouldn't be Reverend Mallory. He fought the city council in an attempt to prevent the zoning laws from changing. I've got students who volunteer at the church. They say he's an upstanding kind of guy." Blair just shook his head as he followed Jim. The older man had started walking along the yellow tape that surrounded the crime and fire scene.

The ground was saturated from the water used to contain and put out the fire. The effort though valiant hadn't prevented the fire from consuming the two century old wooden structure. There were standing puddles of water everywhere. Jim and Blair's shoes sank in the mud. Blair was glad that he hadn't worn his 'good' shoes.

"Chief, when Steven and I were little Dad used to take us to church. We stopped going when the congregation split over money being raised for summer camp. When everyone left the church the minister ended up owning the church building and lot. Dad always thought that the minister was crooked and never set foot in church again. Religion doesn't always attract good people."

Jim squatted down to survey the sodden ruins. The smell of burned wood hung over the area. Jim coughed as he got a breath of smoke in his sick lungs. He used his pen to poke through the charred remains of the wooden structure. Jim brushed the back of his hand against a charred piece of wood. He dusted his hand off. Jim had to steady himself when a wave of dizziness hit him.

"She went up pretty fast," Said a familiar female voice. "It's a good thing that everyone who showed up for choir practice left on time last night. There would have been a real tragedy if the fire had started when the church was full of people."

A smile flashed on Jim's face as he looked up "Debra." He and Debra Reeves had dated a few times but in truth they were both too dedicated to their jobs for anything serious to come of their friendship. "Does it look like arson?" Jim rose unsteadily. To his embarrassment Blair had to help him stand up so that he wouldn't fall onto the muddy ground.

Arching a well-shaped eyebrow Debra made a small frown. "Jim, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Jim waved away her question. He tried to stand without help from Blair. "I just got a head rush from standing too quickly." Absentmindedly Jim scratched the back of his hand.

Blair snorted in disagreement. "Jim's sick. He should be in bed not out in this weather at a crime scene."

Annoyance crossed Debra's pretty face. She shook her head full of frizzy dark curls. "Policemen and firemen are all so macho. You have to be on your deathbeds before you'll admit to being sick. Even tough guys get sick."

Pulling out his handkerchief in time Jim was able to catch another sneeze. "At least I can still focus on the job." He wiped his redden nose. "Does it look like arson?" Jim jerked his head at the charred remains of the church.

Debra released frustration with a huff and a cloud of frosty breath. "It's going to be a tough prove on this case." She gestured to the smoldering ruins. "This church was built in the late seventeen hundreds. At that time people had the bright idea to use sawdust as insulation for buildings. Once the fire hit the sawdust it became an inferno."

"It's amazing that we have anything left of a body." Blair avoided looking at the small sheet that covered what remained of a body.

"A partial charred head and a few neck bones aren't much to get information from." Debra shrugged a slender shoulder under her heavy black Fire Marshall's coat.

Jim rubbed his water eyes. "The back of the head was bashed in with enough force to cause death."

"Strange that there was a fire retardant blanket over the head and shoulders," Debra lifted up the sheet. She frowned at the charred remains. "As hot as the fire got we wouldn't even have this if the blanket hadn't been placed over the head and shoulders." She dropped the sheet and straightened up. "More than likely this is our firebug. He probably tried to get out but the fire spread too fast. He probably ended up getting hit by the falling roof." She gasped and jumped back as several small furry bodies darted across the muddy grounds. "Rats," Debra shuddered.

Jim's eyesight telescoped to the fleeing creatures. "Just one is a rat. The other two are mice." Jim sniffled.

"Must be church mice and a sinner," Blair joked. He kept his eyes averted from the sheet covered charred remains.

Simon walked over to the group. "You look like hell, Jim."

"You're cute looking yourself, Simon." Jim rubbed his throbbing head with a shaky hand.

"We may have the firebug here, Captain Banks." Debra spoke up quickly. "If he's not an arsonist, I'll bet that he was a homeless man trying to keep warm." She spoke with the confidence of experience.

Simon nodded. "The Church of the Gospels used to run a feeding station for the homeless until the zoning in this area changed." Simon frowned at the sheet covered remains. "We've gotten a number of calls from neighbors in the area wanting us to chase away homeless men who've banged on doors looking for handouts. Unfortunately, the uniformed officers also had to arrest a few of them." He eyed Jim again. "Sandburg, take your partner home."

"I'm fine," Jim protested. A sneezing fit hit him as soon as the words left his mouth. Jim had to choose between wiping his nose and scratching the itch that was crawling up his arm. He chose to wipe his nose as Debra grimaced and turned quickly away.

"Sandburg," Simon rolled his eyes. "Take Jim home before he creates a one man epidemic."

Debra stepped back away from Jim. "You really should go home, Jim. I'll wrap this up investigation up before you get back."

"All right, all right," Jim muttered unhappily as he allowed Blair to guide him away from the crime scene. He took his truck keys out of his pocket only to have Blair expertly take them out of his shaky hands. "Hey!" Jim protested.

"No way," Blair said firmly. "You can barely walk a straight line. Do you want to injure someone?" He moved his hand quickly to keep Jim from snatching his keys back.

Huffing Jim walked unsteadily around the truck to the passenger side. "All right," he climbed into the truck. Jim's clothes were drenched in sweat. He leaned back against the seat closing his eyes. "You'd better drive carefully."

"Of course I will." Blair climbed up into the truck. "Say, Jim, how about we stop on the way home for me to pick up some paperwork at Rainier?" He looked over and realized that Jim as asleep. "Why not, Blair," light sarcasm filled his soft spoken words. "You are after all not only the coolest Forensic Anthropologist in the Cascade Police Department but you are also a wonderful part-time fully accredited professor." Blair closed the door carefully so as not to wake Jim.

On the short ride across town Blair carefully followed the speed limit. He parked the truck with Jim still sleeping in front of Hargrove Hall. Sprinting out of the truck Blair hurried to his office. He promised himself that it would just be in and out. With Jim sick Blair didn't want to leave the older man asleep in the truck for very long.

Jim was drifting in a world of sad little mice dressed in black suits with the white collar of a minister around their grey furry necks. He was startled awake by the sound of a young teenage girl's voice, "Detective."

Jim pushed himself up straight. His light blue eyes focused on the face of the young teenage girl. The blue spiked hair, black outlined eyes and the lip piercing along with the black lipstick made Jim blink. It took a minute for his mind to clear from the dregs of sleep. Jim cautiously rolled down the window. "Who are you?"

"I'm Slither," the unhappy girl held out a strip of photos that had been made at one of those booths in the downtown mall. "Rat is missing. He didn't show up last night at the Fair. They say that you can find missing people better than a bloodhound. Will you find Rat?"

Jim's eyes could barely focus on the picture of the boy. He had blue spike hair and a number of sharp looking silver objects pierced through his lower lip. "Rat," Jim just shook his head, "Wrong time of the year for the fair in Cascade."

"Not that fair," Slither shook her head. "Fair is a Goth place we like to hang out at. I was going to sneak him into my house." She blushed beneath her gothic makeup. "He's homeless. No one will let him in the shelters because of Zip." She blinked back tears. "Please, you've got to find him. He's important to me."

"Okay," Jim nodded. "Rat Zip," he repeated dully.

Slither pulled a large silver ring off of her right hand. "Please, I can pay you."

"Don't need to be paid." Jim tried to protest as the silver ring was pressed into his hand.

"Just find Rat," Slither stepped back from the truck. Her hand went to her belly. "It's really important."

Jim closed his tired hot eyes. "Important," he whispered as sleep claimed him, "Rat Zip baby."

The next thing Jim knew he was being shaken. "Jim, please wake up." Jim's eyes fluttered open at the urgency in Blair's voice. "Chief," he frowned. His right arm felt like it was on fire. Jim winced at the sound of an approaching ambulance grew louder. "Where," Jim croaked out.

"We're at the emergency entrance to Cascade General." Blair's face was a mask of worry. "I got back to the truck and you were burning up. Jim, you're having some kind of allergic reaction to something from the church fire."

"We'll get him." A husky orderly moved to get Jim out of the truck.

Jim waved the photo strip and the ring. "Can't lose Rat and Zip."

"I've got them." Blair grabbed the photo strip and the ring. "Watch his arm," Blair said anxiously. "Jim was exposed to something toxic at a fire scene." He followed the gurney as the orderlies pushed Jim into the hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Sunlight streamed in through the vinyl blinds making lines of light across the clean tiled floor of the hospital room. Restlessly Jim channel surfed. Anytime he moved Jim had to be careful not to dislodge the intravenous needle stuck in his arm. The saline solution with antibiotics was slowly dripping into his still feverish body. Jim's eyes were on the television monitor that was suspended in brackets from the ceiling. Jim had a choice. It was either soap operas or the Animal Planet. With a half frustrated sigh Jim changed the channels. He settled back against his pillows to watch the next program.

A petite middle-aged nurse came in with a tray of Jim's medications. "Time for your med," she said firmly.

"When is the doctor going to release me?" Jim eyed the tray distastefully. "I have a job to do." From Blair's careful notes and his chart the doctors had found antibiotics that Jim could safely take with minimum adverse reactions. Unfortunately, the medication seemed to be particularly foul tasting.

Setting the tray down the nurse's hands went to her hips. "Now let's see, Mr. Ellison. You came in six days ago with a temperature of a hundred and four. You had a strange rash that resembled a flesh-eating virus. Once we got that cleaned up you went into cardiac arrest when you received the wrong medication." Her dark eyes seemed to harden. "The blisters on the inside of your mouth from your high fever haven't completely healed and you're still not able to hold down any solid food."

"I'll get better at home in my own bed." Jim protested. His body betrayed him by sending Jim into a fit of sneezing. Jim straightened up immediately trying to appear intimidating. "I can sign myself out of the hospital." His success in getting rid of the bedpan prompted his new strategy. Jim hated using a bedpan. Once he was coherent enough to know his surroundings Jim had fought and bullied his way into getting an okay to drag his IV to the small bathroom when the need arose. Now he was looking to bully his way home passed this new tiny nurse.

"You even try that, Mr. Ellison," steel ran through her words. "I'll see to it that Doctor prescribes your meds in a suppository form. I'll be very happy to insert your meds one at a time." She stood with a firm no nonsense look on her face.

Jim's jaw dropped. This was the first nurse he'd met in the hospital that wasn't going to back down. She had the look of a battle worn Army sergeant. Meekly he accepted the small white cup and swallowed the pills. He grimaced as he took a drink of water.

"Now behave Mr. Ellison," the nurse warned him. "You are NOT going to cause any more grief to my nurses on this floor. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Jim said meekly.

The nurse tucked the blankets around Jim's body. "You may have a visitor for a few minutes." Jim's sense of smell kicked in. He inhaled the familiar tobacco scent that clung to Simon from his cigars and the light scent of Blair's herbal shampoo.

"May I have two visitors?" Jim kept his voice respectful.

The nurse seemed to consider while she carefully changed Jim's intravenous bottles. Jim was breathing shallow as it was hard to hold his breath. "You may have visitors for twenty minutes."

Relieved an exhausted Jim settled back down against his pillow.

The nurse went to the door of Jim's private room and waved Simon and Blair inside. "Remember, Gentlemen, you are NOT to exhaust my patient."

"Yes, Ma'am," Simon's deep baritone voice respectfully answered. "We won't exhaust Jim, Detective Ellison."

The nurse nodded briskly with satisfaction. She left with a warning look at Jim to 'behave.'

Jim smiled as Simon and Blair came into the room. "Did either one of you bring me Wonder Burger?" He asked hopefully.

"And have Nurse Ratchet throw a fit?" Blair looked out the doorway to make sure that the nurse was indeed gone. "I actually think that she's sterner than the Nurse Ratchet character from One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest."

"You know, Jim," Simon looked thoughtfully towards the door. "I think that I may have found my successor."

Managing a look of mock horror Jim shot a look to make certain that the tiny nurse wasn't coming back. "You would visit that woman on innocent police officers? Simon, that's cruel and unusual punishment."

Simon chuckled. "She was brought down from another floor just to deal with you." Jim reddened. "Apparently she's good at keeping order."

Blair pushed both chairs close to Jim's bed. "How are you today, Jim?"

"I'd like to go home." Jim sighed. No Wonder Burger and he had a tough drill sergeant of a nurse. He eyed Blair. "You know with a visiting nurse I could go home." Jim quickly schooled his face into a hopeful expression.

Blair shook his head. "No, way, Jim, you almost died on us twice. You're here where the doctors and nurses can keep an eye on you twenty-four seven until you're well enough to come home." Blair crossed his arms across his chest as if to say the matter was closed.

Jim sighed unhappily. "At least bring me some movies. If I have to watch Erica seduce someone else's husband again or see another documentary on seals I may go postal."

Simon chuckled. "It sounds as if you're on the mend." Simon sat down next to Blair.

"How's the case going with the fire at the Church of the Gospels?" Jim didn't want to waste any of his precious visitor time.

"Thanks to your almost fatal reaction," Simon said with a glance towards Jim's recently healed arm. "Serena tested the remains and found accelerant on the body. They did find traces on the wood pieces that you touched."

"What was it?" Jim's curiosity was like an itch beneath a cast.

"An oil based product," Simon told him. "The lab boys need a few more days to pinpoint what it is but they're guessing it is in the cosmetic family.

"Cosmetics," Jim was surprised.

"There are a number of cosmetic products that are actually dangerous around flames." Blair pointed out. "Serena once set her bedroom on fire when she was using nail polish. As soon as we know what it is I'll added it to the things that you need to avoid."

Jim exhaled in frustration. "I hate being allergic to life." He turned his attention back to Simon. "What about the church? Did you look into who actually owns the church?"

"WE did," Blair interrupted.

Simon cleared his throat. He shot Blair an irritated look. "It does look like the Reverend would end up with the ownership of the building and land should the entire congregation leave." He paused. "In this case he's almost worshipped. No one is leaving the church."

Frowning Jim's eyes went to the monitor. A program on field mice was about to begin. "What about the missing homeless boy Rat?"

Simon and Blair exchanged looks. "Jim," Blair took a breath. "His body was found dumped in a trash dumpster. Someone knifed him. I'm sorry."

Scrubbing his face with a suddenly weary hand Jim released an unhappy breath. "Someone needs to let Slither know. I think that she's pregnant with his child."

"I sent Megan and Rafe over to the Carter's. Their daughter Brittany was devastated," Simon sighed. The father in him hurt for the young teenager. "Poor kid is only sixteen. She wants to keep the baby. Her parents were naturally upset as well but they are willing to support her decision." He shook his head. "She's only a baby and she's having a baby and she's worried about the boy's pet rat. It's probably found a female rat near the ally and is having a family by now."

Jim closed his eyes for a moment. "Damned," he swore softly. "Chief, could you see to it that the ring she gave me is returned to her?"

"Will do, Jim," Blair rose and gently patted Jim's arm. "We're going to go. Get some rest. The doctors say that the best thing you can do now is get plenty of rest."

Jim didn't answer. "He's asleep," Blair said softly. Simon rose from his chair. They left quietly.

Jim was already floating in a strange dream with mice singing in a church. It was almost midnight when he woke up. He frowned. The TV was off. Jim reached for the phone. Jim dialed nine to get an outside line. His first call caught Henri about to leave the bullpen after filling out some paperwork. Jim made a request. Henri agreed to do it.

A second number was dialed. The phone rang four times before a sleepy voice answered. "Chief, get Simon. I know who started the fire and why Rat was murdered. We need Slither, I mean Brittany." Once Jim was satisfied that Simon and Blair would be back first thing in the morning he went back to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Apologies to anyone who read the uncorrected chapter two; I loaded the wrong chapter. I think it's corrected now. (o: Enjoy the rest of the story.

Chapter Three

Reverend Mallory wasn't a happy man. He stood between Detectives Henri Brown and Jonathan Rafe. "I really don't think that finding a rat will prove anything," he protested. His wife, Linda stood unhappily between slender Inspector Megan Connor and a hard butch looking Detective Angie Walker.

Simon nodded to the Carters. Mrs. Carter gave her daughter a hug. Mr. Carter gave Brittany's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Brittany, Slither, wrapped her arms around her body. Hesitantly she walked towards the still yellow taped off charred ruins of the church. She sucked in a breath. "Zip," her voice was shaky. All the adults were quiet as she walked around the ruins.

"Zip, it's okay. It's Slither." A gentle breeze seemed to gently caress Brittany's face.

"This is just all the delusions of a sick man," Reverend Mallory spurted. Henri and Rafe prevented him from leaving the scene.

Brittany stopped. She turned her head as a singed looking rat made an appearance from the rubble. "Come here, Zip," Brittany squatted down and held out one hand.

The large brown rat with a dingy singed white strip around its middle waddled slowly up to the young teenage mother to be. Hesitantly he climbed up in her hand. He lifted his head sniffing. Brittany pulled out a plastic sandwich bag from her pocket and opened it. Zip stuck his head inside the bag and pulled out some food.

Zip climbed up her arm holding onto her jean jacket. He settled wearily on her shoulder against her neck. A tear slid down Brittany's face. "I'm keeping Zip."

"Rafe, Connor, arrest Reverend Mallory and his wife for the murder of Douglas 'Rat' Johnson and Kevin Mallory," Simon said with satisfaction. "Make sure you read the 'good' Reverend and his wife their rights."

Blair stood taking notes. His notes and report would be added to the final police reports. Unfortunately Blair's notes and report would contain no hopeful way to prevent such a crime in the future.

"I didn't have anything to do with the murders," Linda Mallory shouted. Angie happily slapped a set of cuffs on the struggling woman. "It was all his doing," Linda sobbed.

"Shut up, bitch," Reverend Mallory shouted. "I want a lawyer," he shouted as Rafe read him his rights.

Megan recited the Miranda code to the still struggling Mrs. Linda Mallory. Angie smirked. "I arrested a couple of ladies last night who'll be happy to take you under their wings."

"Please," Linda sobbed. "I'll make a deal. There were other fires. He forced me."

Epilogue

That afternoon both Simon and Blair were seated in Jim's hospital room bringing him up to date. "You were right about Reverend Mallory being involved in the murder of Douglas 'Rat' Johnson," Simon leaned forward. The thinly upholstered chair wasn't much on comfort. They'd promised tiny head Nurse Sara Woods that they'd keep their visit short.

Blair bounced up from his chair. "You were so right on, Jim. Apparently, Reverend Mallory had a whole scam going. He'd come to a church and build up the congregation. Sometime after the congregation was at full strength and the offerings were in the thousands, there'd be some kind of fire that would destroy or damage the church building." Blair gestured as he talked and paced. "Of course there would be a huge drive for a building fund to replace the church. Somehow the fund would disappear and some church elder would end up being blamed for the embezzlement." He stopped to take a breath.

Jim sucked ice water through a straw watching Blair with amusement.

Simon cleared his throat, "with Mrs. Linda Mallory's help we were able to come up with the previous churches. Local authorities have been contacted. There are at least a half a dozen elderly men who are about to have their convictions overturned."

"I'm guessing by the unhappy look, Simon that Mrs. Mallory won't be doing a lot of time?" Jim frowned at Simon.

Simon nodded, "It was the lesser of two evils. We might have had enough evidence to put Reverend Mallory away but with his soon to be former wife's testimony he'll spend the rest of his life in jail."

Jim realized he was okay with the way things worked out.

"How did you know, Jim?" Blair came to a stop by Jim's bed. "Was it your Sentinel senses?"

Carefully setting down his cup on the tray across his bed Jim leaned back against his pillows. "Actually, chief, it was a lot of little things that added up to old fashion police instinct and TV." Jim pointed to the TV monitor hanging from brackets in the middle of the room.

Chuckling Simon asked, "What did you notice, Jim?"

"First," Jim carefully ticked off his reasons. "Not even my father at his most successful wore suits as expensive as the Reverend wore. It was inappropriate for a minister of a local church to spend that kind of money on clothing. Most ministers are paid from the church collections. That kind of budget wouldn't have included such an expensive suit, so I reasoned he had to have some other source of income." Jim paused to take a breath.

"Second, the mention of zoning changes jogged my memory. I remember reading about a company that wanted to build a large apartment complex in the area. Not only would whoever sold the land the church was built on gain a lot of money from the sale but there would be a large building fund to buy more land to build a much bigger church in another area. If the Reverend was a conman like I suspected then this was going to be the Big Score."

Blair folded his arms over his broad chest. "What did the murder of Rat have to do with the fire?"

"It was the reason for the call to the station." Simon shrewdly smiled.

Nodding Jim filled Blair in on what had been discovered. "I asked Henri to let me know what was found in the dumpster with Rat. In the photo strip Rat had on a ring identical to the one that Slither had given me. It wasn't found on the body. None of his other rings were taken. There were several packages of used bloody baby clothes in the dumpster. I think that Rat knew he'd gotten Slither pregnant. He pawned his ring to purchase the used clothing from the church's thrift store. He was trying to take care of his coming baby and Slither."

Jim released a sigh. "Unfortunately, Rat saw something that that jogged his memory at the thrift store."

Simon continued for a tired looking Jim. "Henri discovered that one of the 'homeless' men picked up by officers had a record for juvenile arson. Kevin Mallory actually had a nice apartment in town. He was the 'silent' partner in all the scams. He'd set the fires to all the church buildings. Kevin moved with his brother and sister-in-law to each new location."

Blair resumed his seat. "Rat must have known who he was.

"Yea," Jim said softly. "Rat was actually from Grand Junction, Colorado. That was the place where the last church went up in flames. Rat-Douglas must have remembered Kevin Mallory from there. Rat was into the Gothic scene and also helped feed homeless men at the church. The Colorado church fire was also blamed on homeless men." Jim closed his eyes. "Rat-Doug's father was a fireman who lost his life fighting that fire when the church collapsed. The kid was so confused and angry at his father's death that he ran away from home. He would have been highly motivated to stop an arsonist."

Jim paused obviously worn out.

"The medical examiner placed Douglas' death before the choir practice," Simon quietly continued. "Kevin killed Doug and drove his body away from the scene so it wouldn't be discovered before he set the fire. Serena found blood in the back of Reverend Mallory's car."

"Serena told me that the state lab identified Kevin Mallory's remains by his dental records." Jim interjected.

Blair thought everything through. "How does the TV figure into this?"

Jim opened his eyes smiling. "Animal Planet ran several programs on mice and rats. A rat won't hang around mice territory. Yet there was a large rat with unusual markings hanging around the crime scene. Zip is a pedigree rat that was breed for show. He must have been dropped when Kevin killed Doug," Jim indicated the nightstand by his bed. "In the photo strip that Brittany gave me Doug is holding a silver blanket. It's a fire retardant blanket. I think it was also left at the crime scene. No one from the choir practice noticed it on the floor."

Taking a breath Jim continued, "Kevin was inside after the service pouring accelerant over the wooden pews before he set fire to the church. Only he didn't count on Zip. I think that Zip attacked Kevin. Kevin was using the blanket to protect himself when the fire reached the walls. Zip escaped the fire but Kevin didn't."

"The fire accelerant was fingernail polish remover," Blair informed Jim. "Megan found a beauty supply place that remembered selling several cases to Mrs. Mallory. She lied about not being involved."

"Well, I won't paint my nails anytime in the near future." Jim said with a tired smile. "Simon, you might want to let Doug's mother know that the kid was trying to stop an arsonist."

"I all ready did that," Simon said soberly. "His grandfather is still alive. The old man was a fire chief before he retired. He and Doug's mother will be arriving tonight to claim Doug's body and meet with Brittany. They want to keep in touch with the mother of Doug's baby. I let Brittany know that Doug died trying to do something good. It'll be something she can tell their child in the future. I'll have Henri find the pawn shop and get Doug's ring for Brittany."

"Chief, could you see to it that the photo strip gets back to Brittany?" Jim yawned suddenly overwhelmingly tired.

"I'll take care of it." Blair smiled. "You'd better get some rest."

Jim nodded. "The doctor is going to start me on solid food tonight. I need a nap before dinner. If I can keep solid food down tonight and tomorrow I can go home. Could you hand me the remote?" He gestured to the TV, "Animal Planet is going to have a special on hunting dogs later."

"Get some rest, Jim," Blair moved the tray and set the remote in arm's reach. Jim nodded. He was asleep before they even reached the door.

THE END

Author's note, I watched the specials on mice and rats run on Animal Planet. My family once had a rat for a pet. They can be amazingly clean, friendly and very smart. Information on sawdust used in insulating old buildings in Seattle was found on a site giving information on Seattle.


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